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In this episode, Sujani sits down with Dr. Marissa Robinson, coordinator of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative at the US Department of Health. They discuss Marissa’s education and career, her interest in HIV and the Black community’s access to health, and harnessing charisma in your professional life.

You’ll Learn

• How Marissa’s personal experiences shaped her interest in the social determinants of health, specifically with HIV and the Black community’s access to health
• Marissa’s experience at Spelman College, a historically Black college for women, and what factors she considered when making choices about education
• Tips on dealing with rejection, self doubt, and other barriers in your career
• How charisma is essential in leadership and public health and why it is especially important for women of colour to develop this skill

Today’s Guest

Dr. Marissa Robinson is a strategic-leader, visionary, and disruptor within the field of Infectious Disease. She focuses on HIV/AIDS research, educating the need to increase opportunities and diversity amongst the public health workforce. She currently leads as the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative Coordinator at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health within the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy.

Dr. Robinson is a DMV native and is trained in infectious disease epidemiology. She has conducted extensive HIV/AIDS research for over a decade. She began her federal career when she joined the United States Peace Corps as a Community Health and Malaria Prevention volunteer in Togo, West Africa. After returning to the US, Dr. Robinson worked at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in the HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) on global infectious disease surveillance supporting the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative. Following her time at HRSA, Dr. Robinson joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where she conducted and maintained data analytics for a Nursing and Midwifery initiative on behalf of PEPFAR for 13 African countries. After her time at CDC, Dr. Robinson joined the CDC Foundation on the Teens Linked to Care pilot program with the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health which focused on substance use and sexual risk among youth in rural populations.

Dr. Robinson completed her Doctor of Public Health degree as a Goldseeker Scholar at Morgan State University’s School of Community Health and Policy. Her dissertation was entitled “A Qualitative Exploration of Preexposure Prophylaxis Among Black Women Attending a Historically Black College and University in the Northeastern United States”. Dr. Robinson completed her doctoral fellowship training at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Pre-Doctoral Clinical Research Training Program. Dr. Robinson received her Master of Public Health with a concentration in global health, infectious diseases, and a certificate in socio-contextual determinants of health from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and her Bachelor of Arts in psychology and public health from Spelman College.

Resources

• Follow Marissa on

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